1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data processing apparatus, and more particularly to a data control device which is capable of increasing the classes of data to be processed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most conventional information processing apparatus such as, for example, cash registers or accounting machines which are capable of recording transactions, counting money, as well as sorting and totalization are of the mechanical type, and have 4 to 8 classifying ability as they are subject to restrictions in size, shape and cost. Assume, for example, that in the use of such apparatus, the following sales are made:
______________________________________ Black tea Y 100 .times. 3 Coffee V 120 .times. 2 Beer Y 200 .times. 1 ______________________________________
The totalization is made by carrying out the following steps (here the classification is drinks, expressed by Class I):
(1) enter 100 yen as the unit price of black tea, PA0 (2) Tap the classification key I three times, PA0 (3) Enter 120 yen as the unit price of coffee, PA0 (4) Tap the classification key I twice, PA0 (5) Enter 200 yen as the unit price of beer, PA0 (6) Tap the classification key I once, then, PA0 (7) Obtain the total. PA0 (1) Tap the classification key I-1 for black tea thrice. PA0 (2) Tap the classification key I-2 for coffee twice. PA0 (3) Tap the classification key I-3 for beer once. PA0 (4) Push the total key.
Thus, the counting of even such simple sales involves many operating steps with a high possibility of misoperation, and if the keys of the machine operated are of a mechanical setup and heavy to handle, the operator might suffer from inflammation of a tendon sheath. There are also involved problems of labor hygiene.
Such problems, however, have been alleviated with the development of techniques of electronic circuits and semiconductors in recent years. That is, the accumulators which receive and compute the numerical data of commercial transactions have been changed from a mechanical structure to an electronic mechanism using, for example, core memories or semiconductor memories. Electronic cash registers capable of multiple classifications (hereinafter referred to as ECR) were also developed and are now being put to use.
Such electronics apparaus can easily be arranged to have the function of presetting a unit price for a number of commodities, and hence the totalization of, for example, the above-mentioned sales can be accomplished by the following steps:
Thus, since the unit price of each item is previously set, the operator simply depresses the respective classification keys according to the number of items sold, so that the entire operation is extremely simplified.
According to this system, however, one unit price is set for each classification key, so that if the number of items of commodities are increased, one needs to provide a corresponding number of unit price pre-setting means and classification memories. Also, although selling management can be made for every single item, item-by-item management is not so meritorious for its troublesomeness in the presently existing retail shops.
Therefore, for sales management of groups of commodities, it becomes necessary to obtain the total of each group, as in the conventional apparatus. That is, there is required commodity managment corresponding to the number of commodities for each group as determined by a machine, notwithstanding the fact that the number of commodities varies from group to group.
It is unrealistic to store the preset data for commodities which vary in unit price every day, or for the commodities of which the daily sale is very small. For this purpose, it has been attempted either to provide classifying keys which are not preset, or to use a change-over device which permits input of only the entry data while inhibiting input of the preset data. However, the former has the problem that sale management becomes hard to perform as the commodities of different groups are accumulated in the same memory, while the latter involves the possibility of misoperations due to troublesome change-over operation.